Neurological J.Dahmer

Jeffery Dahmer - Neurological

Jeffery Dahmer was born in was Milwaukee on May 21st 1960, he was described to be energetic and outgoing, up until the age of 4 when he had corrective surgery for  double hernia which seemed to alter the boy, he became withdrawn with the coming births of more family members and the families frequent moving habits by his teens, he was disengaged and largely friendless. He claims that his urges started at the age of 14, but other evidence points to his parents bitter divorce. He was beaten to death with a metal pole from the weight room by a fellow inmate and pronounced dead on November 28th 1994. 

The Murders

Jeffery killed 17 men between 1978-1991 his first murder, a hitch hiker by the name Steven Hicks, was taken in by Dahmer, where he was soon intoxicated and killed when he tried to leave, he later on would dismember the corpse and pack it into plastic bags before burying them behind his parents home. He later retrieved the body crushing the bones with a sledgehammer scattering the remains around a ravine.

Around this time his alcoholism was at it's peak, dropping out of college, his father insisted he enrolled into the army, he was enlisted December 1978 and posted in Germany soon after, he was discharged due to alcohol problems, the German authorities tried to tie him to  murders in the area although it's believed that he took to more victims in his time in the forces.

In September of 1987 he killed a second time, Steven Tuomi, the pair checked into a hotel and drank into the night, Dahmer awoke the next morning with Tuomi dead and no recollection of  the nights activities, he purchased a large suitcase to take the body back to his grandmothers house where he dismembered and masturbated over the corpse before disposing of it.

During the next 13 years he would seek out African-American men at gay bars, malls and bus stops, drawing them in with the promise of money or sex, drugging them before killing them and performing sexual acts on the bodies, sometimes keeping skulls and genitalia as souvenirs, taking photos of the victim at different stages of murder so he could recall the experience at a later date.

Neurological approach

Neurological approach would assume that areas of the brain work in conjunction to each other otherwise known as lateralisation of function while others work independently, otherwise known

as localisation of function. Brain imaging techniques have helped discover a link between neurological dysfunction and criminal behaviour.

Frontal and temporal lobes

Dysfunction in the frontal and temporal lobes may lead to violent behaviour (Gunn and Taylor, 2014). The limbic system located in temporal lobe controls emotion such as fear, pleasure and anger.

The frontal lobe however, is responsible for higher cognitive functions such as understanding emotions and planning reactions. Gunn and Taylor argue that individuals with dysfunction in these areas

of the brain are more likely to be criminal due to unchecked emotions. An example of this is Phineas Gage, who obtained damage to both lobes which had a drastic effect on his personality, creating

erratic and impulsive temperament.

Amygdala

The amygdala as been associated with aggressive behaviour through research such as that carried out by Coccaro et al (2007) who investigated the effects of the amygdala on 202 participants

with inherit explosive disorder. P's were shown images of faces with a range of expressions whilst undergoing a fMRI scan of their brain. He found a significant difference between the group with IED

and the control group when shown angry faces. The group with IED showed significant higher levels of activity within the amygdala demonstrating association between the amygdala activity and aggression.

An example of this is Charles Whitman who shot and killed 21 people at the uni of Texas who was found to have a subsequently larger amygdala.

Application of Neurological Approach

Forebrain-Dahmer's frontal lobes would have been smaller, as aforementioned the frontal lobe is responsible for emotions and planning, this would help in explaining Dahmer's lack of morals, guilt, empathy and his less than conventional sexual appetites.
The corpus callosum holds the left and right side of the brain together, Dahmers would have poorly held these hemispheres together meaning he would be more aggressive than the average person. 

Midbrain-Dahmer's amygdala would have been larger, also responsible for his aggression, considering he killed and mutilated the bodies of seventeen men, it's safe to say he was just a little bit aggressive, as well as aggression, it also has ties to controlling  anger and the processing of emotions. The hypocampus is responsible for long term memories and attention, his hypocampus would have had a floor in only the right hemisphere resulting in high levels of attention when killing and pleasant emotions triggering during murders.

Hindbrain-The thalamus is the sensory control center of the brain, allocating certain sensations to certain parts of the brain, as well as connections to sexual and pleasant feelings. Dahmer's was functioning incorrectly meaning when one area of the brain activates another part will activate as well, for example a violent act will be associated with a pleasurable feeling it will also inhibit Dahmer from empathising with others. 

Edmund Kemper - Cognitive Theories

Edmund Kemper

Kemper had a difficult relationship with his mother, who was an alcoholic, due to her critical opinion of him as well as blaming him for all her problems. At the age of 10 he was forced to live in the basement because his mother was afraid he would harm his sisters. This conclusion was due to signs of aggressive and dark thoughts in relation to criminal behaviour. For example, he cut off the heads of his sisters' dolls and encouraged his sisters to participate in a game called 'gas chamber.' He also killed two family cats and other small animals by age 15.

On August 27, 1964, Kemper shot his grandmother after an argument and when his grandfather returned home, he shot him too and hid his body. He told the police that he shot his grandmother "to see what it felt like" and shot his grandfather so he didn't have to find out his wife had died.

Kemper was sent to the California Youth Authority where he underwent a number of tests. It was determined that he had a very high IQ but also suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Due to this conclusion, he was sent to Atascadero State Hospital, a maximum security facility for mentally ill convicts.

In 1969, Kemper was released at aged 21. After a number of years and unsuccessful pursuits of employment, he was involved in a motorcycle accident that resulted in an inability to work due to injury so with all his free time, he began storing tools he thought might be useful in fulfilling murderous desires.

The first murder after his accident occurred when he offered a lift to two students, Mary Ann Pesce and Anita Luchessa. However, they never arrived at their destination. It was later discovered that both girls had been murdered upon the discovery of Pesce's head near Santa Cruz. The head and hands of both girls were removed in his apartment while he engaged in sexual activity with their corpses. He committed four additional murders until April 1973 where he committed his last two murders. The first victim was his mother who he struck with a hammer and cut her throat while she slept. He then decapitated her, cut off her hands and put her larynx down the garbage disposal. He then invited her friend over, Sally Hallett, after hiding his mother's body parts. He strangled Hallett and hid her body in the closet. He later confessed to the Santa Cruz police on April 23 after fleeing to Colorado.

Kemper was charged with eight counts of first degree murder when he went on trial in October 1973. He was found guilty of all the charges in early November. When asked what his punishment should be, he requested that he be tortured to death. Instead he received eight concurrent life sentences. At present, Kemper is serving his time in California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

Cognitive Theories
Distinctive Thinking Patterns - Yochelson & Samenow (1976). They believed that criminal behaviour is characterised by 40 cognitive errors concluding that criminals think different to non-criminals and that these thinking patterns  lead them to criminal behaviour.
1. Criminal thinking patterns - characterised by need for power and control, lying, feelings of worthlessness etc.
2. Automatic thinking errors - include a lack of empathy and trust, perception of themselves as victims, poor decision-making etc.
3. Crime related thinking errors - include fantasising about criminal acts, no regard to deterrent factors and super-optimism etc.

Rational Choice Theory - Cornish & Clarke (1987). They believe that crime is purposive behaviour designed to meet the criminals needs, for example, raping for sexual gratification.
1. Individualism - offender sees themselves as an individual thus responsible for their own welfare.
2. Goal orientated - offender wants to maximise what they have.
3. Self-interested - offender puts themselves and their needs first.

Application of Cognitive Theories
Due to the abuse that he suffered from his mother, we can say that he had feelings of worthlessness especially from being locked in the basement and isolated from the rest of society. Additionally, his mother blamed him for all of her problems which could have lead him to perceive himself as a victim. However, his mothers actions were due to his dark fantasies in relation to criminal acts which is 'crime related thinking error' suggesting that at a young age he had cognitive errors.

After his childhood, he may have perceived himself as a 'victim of the world' but this changes when he kills his grandparents to finally put his needs first. This self-interested behaviour resulted in his
lack of regard for deterrent factors.

He displays 'criminal thinking patterns' where he offers Pesce and Luchessa a lift but ends up killing them. By being the driver he has control over the situation and also he is lying to them by saying he will take them to their destination. He exhibits self-interested behaviour when he engages in sexual activity with their corpses as he is obtaining sexual gratification. If Kemper was a virgin during this time, he would have displayed 'goal-orientated behaviour' by having sex with the corpses as he is maximising what he has.

Kemper killed his mother while she slept which could show some remorse as she cannot beg for her life. However, it could also suggest that he has a need for power and control which is a 'criminal thinking pattern.' This is emphasised when he strangles his mothers friend, Hallett, as he was literally squeezing the life out of someone.

After his crimes, Kemper calls the police to turn himself in showing that he has no regard for deterrent factors showing 'crime related thinking errors.'

In conclusion, Kemper displays all of the cognitive thinking errors suggested by Yochelson & Samenow (1976) and Cornish & Clarke (1987). This suggests that he does have a different thinking process to normal individuals leading to his criminal behaviour.

Joseph and Michael Kallinger and DAT (Differential Association Theory)

 

 

ABOUT THE KAILLINGERS

 

 

Joseph and Michael Kallinger were father and son. The two teamed up to form a deadly duo, Michael was in his early teens. Between 1974 and 1975 they murdered three people. They also tortured robbed and sexually abused others. On one occasion the father and son broke into a house where they beat and tortured 8 people. A 21  year old nurse, Maria Fasching, who was attending an elderly neighbour, was taken into a basement where her throat was cut  by Joseph and she was killed. the duo's crimes showed a clear pattern. They usually involved women being tied up, stripped and sometimes sexually abused. they also often searched the houses for valuables such as cash or jewellery. Neither Joseph nor Michael had lead a normal life. Joseph was abused as an adopted child and was pronounced paranoid schizophrenic. He had also spent several months in prison for abusing his children which may well have included Michael.

 

Differential Association Theory (DAT)

DAT was developed by Sutherland in 1939. It suggests that people develop criminal behaviour due to learning via interaction and association with other criminals.

 

This is summarised by 9 key points, here are some relevant examples:

1) Learnt behaviour; suggesting criminality is a product of nurture rather than nature

2) Interaction and communication; implies that rather than learning by observation alone we learn by interaction of both verbal and non-verbal exchanges

3) Intimate social groups; suggests that the people we are closest too are most influential in shaping our criminal behaviour

4) Techniques and attitudes; alongside the attitude towards crime the techniques towards committing the crime were also learnt

5) General mechanisms of learning; widely accepted mechanisms of learning are also applicable to criminal behaviour. For example, operant condition, which involves rewards versus punishments.

 

Application of DAT to the Kallingers

The previously mentioned points of DAT can be applied to the Kallingers as follows:

1) Learnt behaviour; Joseph Kallinger was an adopted child who went through childhood abuse. This suggests that this is what shaped his later behaviour, rather than being born with it.

2) Interaction and communication; as Michael and Joseph were father and son - they would have been interacting and communicating over a long period of time (for the whole of Michael's lifetime). This is where Michael would have learnt his behaviour and Joseph would have reinforced his own.

3) Intimate social groups; being father and son - Joseph and Michael were part of a close social group, this means that the behaviour of one would have been highly influential on the other.

4) Techniques and attitudes; Joseph would have learnt criminal behaviour such as abuse and violence from his adopted family. Michael would have learnt techniques such violence and theft shadowing his father.

5) General mechanisms of learning; operant conditioning is often seen in parenting. As Joseph and Michael were committing crimes together as father and son, it is highly likely that Joseph praised and positively reinforced any criminal behaviour in Michael; rather than punishing him. This therefore reinforced criminal behaviour in Michael.

 

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson

Jamie Bulger Case

  

Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory is based on how behaviour is shaped through the observational learning of important models and that observational learning can be both direct and indirect. Bandura stated that there are four steps in observational learning. The first is attention, where the individual has the ability to pay focused attention to what is happening around them. Retention refers to a person’s ability to store and recall the observed information. Reproduction occurs when the observed behaviour is imitated and practiced and motivation is an individual’s desire to learn copy and practice observed behaviour. Bandura made it clear that we are more likely to copy behaviour of someone if we see them as powerful, similar and nurturing. For example children are more likely to copy their parents as they are seen as powerful and nurturing. When learning these different behaviours there are two ways in which it can be carried out. Direct learning occurs through our observations and imitations of others known as social learning and indirect learning occurs through observations of other people and their consequences. Bandura, Ross and Ross conducted an experiment on seventy two preschool boys and girls who were split into three groups – watching an aggressive model being violent towards a bobo doll, watching a non-aggressive model and the third where they were not exposed to either. Bandura found that there were higher levels of physical and verbal aggression towards the bobo doll when children witnessed the aggressive model with the bobo doll compared to the other conditions and therefore concluded that aggression can be learned via observation and imitation. Furthermore, he found that children who saw the model who was aggressive being rewarded for their behaviour were more likely to repeat it.

Summary of the Case

Jamie was taken from Bootle shopping centre on February the 14th in 1993. On CCTV footage which captured the moment of his abduction frame by haunting frame, we saw him being taken through the mall by a pair of shadowy silhouettes. His final journey ended on a railway embankment in Walton.

James, who was a month short of his third birthday, was found two days later, on February 14, 1993. He had 22 injuries to his head, and another 20 to his body, inflicted with a 22lb iron bar and 27 bricks. 

How the case can be linked to Social Learning Theory

Robert's mother Ann married Robert Thompson Snr when she was just 18. He was a man who qualified as a husband and father in name only. An aggressive alcoholic, he would beat Ann mercilessly. On one occasion, she suffered a miscarriage when she was jammed in a door during a violent row. The boys did not escape the beatings. They were punished by their father with sticks and belts. 'See the evil in my eyes, tw*t,' he'd say to them when he was angry. In 1988, he abandoned his family for another woman. Ann Thompson was unable to cope and turned to drink. At the Top House pub in Walton, neighbours recalled her fights with other women, and sometimes even with men. She was in the pub from opening time at 11am, and when the kids got home they found her rotten drunk and unable to stand,' another local recalled. 'Often, people would have to carry her home.' The devastating effect this had on the children was revealed in a case conference held at the NSPCC in Liverpool a few weeks after James Bulger died. In relation to Social Learning Theory, the theory suggests that individuals are more likely to copy the behaviour of someone else who is seen as powerful, similar and/or nurturing, therefore, by Robert growing up and watching his father be aggressive towards his mother, he is more likely to replicate this behaviour. Robert could have learnt the behaviour in the two main ways that Social Learning Theory suggests that behaviour is learnt. For example, with indirect learning, Robert's father was never punished for his actions and therefore Robert was unable to learn the consequences. 

Jon Venables was also from a broken home. He was the middle of three children born to Neil and Susan Venables, whose marriage was already in trouble when Jon arrived. They divorced when he was three years old. Like Ann Thompson, Venables' mother Susan was a regular visitor to local pubs. In January 1987, police were called to the house after the children (then aged seven, five and three) had been left alone for three hours.

Jon's behaviour deteriorated after his parents split up. His favourite trick with other children was a kick in the shins, followed by a punch to the rib cage. If he didn't get his way he would get the family Rottweiler, Blackie, to bark at other terrified youngsters. Venables spent a few days of the week with his father, who friends insisted was a devoted parent. But it emerged that he had rented more than 400 videos in the few years before James Bulger was murdered. Scores of them contained ultraviolence or pornography.

One of them was the notorious 'video nasty' I Spit On Your Grave, in which a woman is gang raped in a cabin. She avenges herself on the rapists: one is hanged by the neck, another is slaughtered in the bath, and a third is axed in the back, with a close-up of the blade sinking into 'flesh'. 

Another video rented by Mr Venables  -  he always denied his son ever watched them  -  was Child's Play 3. The 'star' is a demonic doll called Chucky, which comes to life in a military academy. In a dreadful echo of the Bulger tragedy, he abducts the youngest cadet and tries to kill him under the wheels of a fairground ghost train. 

But it is Chucky  -  dressed in toddler's dungarees, his faced splashed with blue 'war games' paint  -  who gets horribly mutilated. The video was the last one rented by Mr Venables before James was abducted, splashed with blue paint, and killed. 

In relation to Social Learning Theory, it would suggest that Jon learnt through the four stages of observational learning with the videos that his Dad would rent. For example, with the last film that Jon's father rented before James was abducted, a young cadet was abducted and was attempted to be killed by a train. This relates to what Jon and Robert did when they abducted James as they reproduced the behaviour in which Jon had observed as James was found next to train tracks. This also links to direct learning as Robert imitated the behavior of those they have observed.